Why did Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson fight?

When Dwayne Johnson announced in the summer of 2023 that he would return to the 'Fast and Furious' saga, fans and colleagues were surprised. That's because things between the actor and his co-star in these films, Vin Diesel, had not been so great.

In a video shared by Dwayne Johnson on social media, he said: "Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us. We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve - and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love."

"Despite us having our differences, me and Vin, we’ve been like brothers for years," continued the actor. But what are these differences that The Rock is referring to? What happened between the two stars?

Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson worked together for the first time in the fifth part of the 'Fast and Furious' franchise. It was one of the most remembered and loved films of the saga, mainly for the introduction of The Rock's character, the agent Luke Hobbs, in the story.

However, the relationship between the two appeared to have deteriorated when Dwayne Johnson posted a curious message on Instagram, just after the filming of 'Fast and Furious 8,' in August 2016.

"There’s no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one. My female costars are always amazing and I love ’em. My male costars, however, are a different story," he said in the post.

The Rock's message generated controversy because he did not leave it at that. He also stated that some of his male castmates were unprofessional and used adjectives with the pejorative term "candy ***" (slang for a cowardly person).

A few days later, Dwayne Johnson published another post on his account, trying to contain the damage. "Family is gonna have differences of opinion and fundamental core beliefs," he wrote. "To me, conflict can be a good thing, when [it's] followed by great resolution. I was raised on healthy conflict and welcome it."

However, Johnson had opened a wound that was difficult to heal. Indeed, Vin Diesel began to give his own opinion on the issue when talking to the public.

In an interview with USA Today, Diesel commented: "I think some things may be blown out of proportion. I don't think that was his intention. I know he appreciates how much I work in this franchise. In my house, he’s Uncle Dwayne."

In the same interview with USA Today, Vin also positioned himself with a certain superiority, claiming that he was like an older brother to Johnson in the world of cinema.

That comment obviously didn't sit well with The Rock. He then replied: "I have one big brother and it’s my half-brother. And that’s it."

In another interview, with Men's Health, Vin went a step further and suggested that Dwayne Johnson had difficulty playing his role. "It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character. My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be."

"That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love," Vin Diesel explained in the same interview.

And for a while, it went like this, back and forth. Dwayne accused Vin of having a fundamentally different philosophy of how to collaborate on a set, while Diesel tried to justify his ways of working by saying it was for the greater good of the film. He was tough on the 'lesser' actor Dwayne, but with love.

In the end, it was announced that Dwayne Johnson would not participate in 'Fast and Furious 9.' They said it was due to scheduling problems, but the public knew there was more to it.

In 2021, Vin Diesel dedicated a post on his Instagram to Dwayne Johnson. Its caption read: "My little brother Dwayne… the time has come. The world awaits the finale of Fast 10."

"As you know, my children refer to you as Uncle Dwayne in my house. There is not a holiday that goes by that they and you don’t send well wishes… but the time has come. Legacy awaits."

Johnson did not welcome this post with open arms. In an interview with CNN, he commented: "Vin's recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn't like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as [fellow cast member] Paul Walker's death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding."

However, at the end of 'Fast and Furious 10' the public got a big surprise: Dwayne Johnson appeared in the last scene. It was a sign that peace was in sight...

And then, finally, Dwayne Johnson posted the video on his social media to announce his return to the franchise. Fans were very happy because they had hoped to see these two great actors together again on the big screen.